Defence Secretary Wes Streeting has warned that Britain's adversaries could be ready to attack by 2030, leaving the UK just over 1,000 days to prepare. Writing in The Telegraph, Streeting said their capacity to harm the country has changed, even if their willingness has not.
Streeting wrote: "Our adversaries' willingness to harm us is not new. What has changed is their capacity. By 2030 their force strength and war economy could put them in a position to attack. That gives us a little over 1,000 days to complete our mission: to be ready with our allies to fight and win."
Preparing to 'prevent the worst'
He said the UK had to prepare to "prevent the worst", referencing Russia's potential "state-sponsored terrorism". Streeting continued: "In the face of those threats, which are not hypothetical but real, and not somewhere else but increasingly here, we have to step up and take seriously our national resilience as well as our national defence. It's really important that we ask households and businesses are they prepared?"
The warning follows Prime Minister Andy Burnham's advice for citizens to stock up on tinned food and bottled water for emergencies. Britons have been urged to prepare by keeping nine litres of bottled water and three days of food, along with blankets, cash, first aid kits, and a wind-up FM radio.
Emergency advice and supply chain concerns
Burnham previously told the BBC: "It's not about panicking…It's about just taking sensible measures to have enough in the house to tide you over should there be a difficult situation."
Last month, the National Audit Office (NAO) warned Britain's food supply chain is at risk due to growing threats of cyber attacks and the climate crisis. It accused the Department for Food, the Environment and Rural Affairs (Defra) of not doing enough to improve supply chain resilience.
Burnham responded: "We're having the conversation with people about being better prepared because we're living in a world where unexpected events seem to be becoming more and more common. Obviously, weather events, and we're in a situation today where the UK is facing storms and obviously, we feel for the people without power in Cornwall right now. It is just having those supplies in the house to get you through those moments. So we are having that conversation about resilience."
The government has also suggested hand sanitiser, pet food, and wet wipes for stockpiling lists.
